We were two of six judges who tasted and rated 48 varieties of chili that were grouped by category: beef, chicken, game, kitchen sink, pork and vegetarian. The judges were divided into two groups, each of which was responsible for assessing three chili categories in the blind-tasting competition.

I was teamed with Snell and Andrea Todd of Burlington. Todd is a cooking instructor who teaches classes in seasonal cooking. She has a natural sense of food/beverage pairings.

"Do these come with beers?" Todd asked early in Saturday's proceedings.

Our team was assigned the kitchen sink, chicken and veggie divisions. All the judges tasted the top fives chili picks to vote for an overall winner.

The kitchen sink division had more than a dozen entries, representing a range of color — beige to bright red to mud brown — and variety of ingredients. One chili had crayfish, another was loaded with mushy curlicues of pasta. At least one sample had pieces of char for that distinct burned flavor Snell sensed before he spooned up or tasted the evidence.

"That's called turning the flame too high and forgetting about it," he said. (I'll note that as I work on rewriting my epitaph.)

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A spoonful of chili at the Vermont Chili Festival in Middlebury. There were 48 chilis in six categories at the seventh annual event.(Photo: SALLY POLLAK/FREE PRESS)

Smokey was better than sweet for me. Aroma and appearance could kill a sample before the first bite. A little surprise — a crunchy shoestring of root vegetable — was appreciated. By the time you're tasting your 20th sample, the chilis tend to run together.

A standout version was made by The Lobby, a Middlebury restaurant opened a year ago by Michel Mahe, overlooking Otter Creek.

By the time Trump's victory was announced in the festival beer tent — a win that comes with $1,000 — he was back at work down the street. Saturday night dinner service.

Justin Patras, chef at Park Squeeze in Vergennes, accepted for The Lobby. He showed up at The Lobby kitchen door, "yelling and screaming and happy" with plaque in hand to spread the word of the win, Trump said.

The chef could barely look up.

"I couldn't even stop to say, 'That's awesome, let's open a bottle of champagne,' " he said. "I think we were plating up a party of eight people."

He paused to pose for a photograph with Patras, whose Park Squeeze pork chili won its division. This made two wins for restaurants owned by Mahe.

Trump is a former pork chili champ. He won two years ago when he was sous chef at Black Sheep Bistro in Vergennes, chili that won second place overall at that year's festival.

"This year I was like, All right, I finally got first prize," Trump said.

To make 15 gallons of game chili, Trump used 30 pounds of venison — meat raised in Maine or New Hampshire. He made the chili Tuesday and kept it in buckets in the restaurant refrigerator.

"I'm a firm believer that chili tastes better if you let it sit three or four days," Trump said.

He will use the prize money to buy restaurant equipment. "I'll get that dough hook or that vacuum sealer I've had my eye on," he said.

The win is good for The Lobby and good for Middlebury, said Trump, who lives in Middlebury with his family.

Justin Patras accepts the best chili award for The Lobby restaurant Saturday in Middlebury at the Vermont Chili Festival. Patras works at the Park Squeeze in Vergennes, and won for best pork chili. He accepted the overall prize for chef The Lobby’s Jeff Trump, who was at work in the restaurant when the win was announced.(Photo: SALLY POLLAK/FREE PRESS)